Method of packaging food commodities for merchandising purposes



Oct. 11, 1960 P. B. HULTKRANS ETAL 2,955,941

METHOD OF PACKAGING FOOD COMMODITIES FOR MERCHANDISING PURPOSES Filed Sept. 25, 1957 2 Sheets-'Sheet 1 Q 0 '41 [nl l r u" 3 I NI Q 1h w C) l T Q Y Y [l N) H u; w s :"1 R Hlm: l||\n mu lu...

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ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 11, 1960 P. B. HULTKRANS I'AL METHOD OF PACKAGING FOOD COMMODITIES Foa MERCHANDISING PURPOSES Y Filed sept. 25, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Illllll HHH )Hmm H @63 INV ToR I BY .@a/v-W Arron/Veys.

United States Patent METHOD OF PACKAGING FOOD COMMODITIES FOR MERCHANDISING PURPOSES Paul B. Hultkrans, Shorewood, and Milton E. Griem and Donald W. Davis, Milwaukee, Wis., assignors to Milprint, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 25, 1957, Ser. No. '686,227 s claims. (C1. 99-171) regular shaped bodies of foodstuffs in snug fitting and shape conforming flexible merchandising wrappers.

It is customary, in the art of preparing fresh dressed poultry such as turkeys and other fowl for market, to subject each body to a so-called squatting operation so as to shorten the bird and to broaden its girth in order to give it a more plump and fuller breast appearance. This squatting has heretofore been universally accomplished before the nal wrapper was applied, and was performed with the aid of a pair of clamps one of which coacted with the neck area while the other engaged the tail and leg area, these clamps being adapted to be brought toward each other to press the pliant intervening body into the desired shorter and laterally expanded shape.

Since the body thus initially laterally expanded is ob viously of irregular shape having certain transverse portions of considerably larger area than other portions, considerable difficulty is encountered in protectively packaging the same in neat, attractive and shape-conforming containers for merchandising and display purposes; and conventional packaging methods in which the irregular body is merely either wrapped in a sheet or enclosed in a bag formed of paper, transparent or opaque films, or diverse other sheet materials of a relatively inelastic nature are not satisfactory and are, in fact, highly objectionable and result in unattractive final packages having loose folds and voids in which condensate and dead air may accumulate. While these difficulties are particularly attendant to the packaging of fowl, they are nevertheless also prevalent in connection with the packaging of any foodstuffs having a more-or-less irregularly shaped body, and they cannot be satisfactorily overcome even through use of pressure or in the presence f a vacuum in the loading operation.

In efforts to overcome these diiculties and disadvantages, it has accordingly been proposed to insert each medially expanded body within a rather large and loosely fitting bag-like wrapper formed of shrinkable film which was substantially devoid of inherent elasticity but was adapted to be contracted by variations in temperature or by other special treating methods accompanied in some cases by the removal of air from its interior as with the aid of a vacuum pump. This method of .wrapping poultry and other irregularly shaped articles of foodstuffs is not entirely satisfactory even if wrapping r,materials which are capable of considerable expansion and contraction are employed, because the variation in size of the wrapper is not always sufficient to cause the same to engage the article with enough tension to eliminatesurface irregularities and air confining pockets; Then too, this prior poultry packaging method requires excessive handling of the commodity due to the necessity of providing separate squatting equipment, and it also required the provision of special means for initially expanding the wrapper bags and for finally contracting them about the commodity.

Insofar as the packaging of fowl or other articles of foodstuffs for merchandising anddisplay purposes is concerned, the methods thus described are believed to be the only methods having any appreciable commercial acceptance to date, although it has been proposed to encase meat cuts in knitted stockings as well as in rubber bag-like containers for other purposes. For example, in the preparation of certain meats for market as in the smoking process, it has in the past been proposed to confine the body to be treated in a loosely knitted stocking which would permit the smoke to infiltrate while also permitting drainage of excess fat and the like and aiding in retaining the body shape; but in these instances, the tubular knitted stocking was highly unattractive and porous and could not serve as a merchandising and display wrapper and was therefore always'removed, if possible,` before marketing of the product. As for the use of a rubber container, it has, in certain instances, been proposed to confine large bodies of meat such as a side of beef in a rubber bag which is initially stretched by placing the same ina vacuum chamber of larger capacity than the meat cut and then drawing a vacuum within the chamber to externally expand the bag to accommodate the commodity, the sole purpose being to cover and protect the meat in transit or during the freezing process and subsequent storage. However, as in the use of a knit container, the rubber casing is highly unattractive and unsuited for merchandising or display and is therefore also removed before marketing or sale; and the process is furthermore undesirablefor the commercial packaging of individual articles of foodstuffs for merchandising purposes dueto the vacuum and loading equipment and the like which is essential thereto. Y

It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a simpler and far more efficient and economical method of snugly confining poultry and other pliant commodities having irregular external surfaces in flexible tubular wrappers in a manner whereby undesirable surface irregularities and air and moisture condensate pockets are eliminated. Y Y

A further important object of the invention is to provide a mode of squatting and packaging poultry and the like in elastic bag-like wrappers with minimum effort and handling of the commodity to produce highly ,attractive and merchandisable final packages.

Still another important object of this invention is t0 provide an improved packaging system for pliant batches ofl'meat or the like havingV external surface irregularities in transparent flexiblerwrappers which have inherent stretching and contracting characteristics enabling them to effectively eliminate such irregularities in the final packages.

An additional important object of the invention is to provide improved instrumentalities for facilitating most efficient packing of fresh dressed poultry and other similar commodities in an expeditious manner and so as to eliminateconfinement of excess air and moisture within `the final packages. f

Another important object of this invention is to provide an improved mode of packaging poultry whereby the squatting andwrapping operations are simultaneously Patented Oct. 11, 1960 VVljlese andl other-more specifieobjects' and advantages 1 of thfepresent invention'will be apparent from thefol-V lowing detailed', description from` which it may be noted that the gist of the improvement is Vthe Vprovision of a Vrnethodm'f packaging pliant. Commodities, particularly bodies of foodstuffs, having irregular external surfaces in a highly inherently elastic tubular wrapper by initially laterally stretching such a wrapper to expand the same,

' by subsequently stuffing a batch of the commodity within the` initially expanded tube or a portion thereof rto further stretch the latter longitudinally, and by finally releasing the expanding force to allow the wrapping material to'contract into snug 'engagement'. with the commodity batch with suicient tension Yto iron outsurface irregularities 'and to eliminate excessive pockets adjacent fo tlielatter. Y

v A clear lconception of theV several steps involved in the improved method, and of the construction and opera-V tion of practical apparatus for'fa'cilitating exploitation of the method, may be had by referring to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate the sar'ne orV similar parts in the various views. v Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of typical equipment for facilitating commercial exploitation of the improved poultry packaging method, showing a wrapper expander and poultry guide having the mouth and major portion of` an elastic bag-like wrapper applied toits delivery `end in folded but unstretched condition, and also showing a fresh dressed turkey adjacent to the receiving end of the expander; .Y f

Fig. 2 isan end view of the assemblage shown vin Fig.l l, looking toward itspoultry inlet; Fig. 3 is another side View Vof the assembly similar to that shownrin Fig.Y 1, Vbut with the Vpoultry guides swung outwardly `,toA expand the bag portions which embrace the/stufer delivery end, and also showing the bird being stuffed into 'the wrapper bag;

`Figp4'` is a side view of theapparatus Vsimilar'to that shown in Fig ,2, but with `the bird stuffed free `of the expander into the stretched bag-like wrapper and ready forremoval Vof the latter from the mechanism; and

Fig. 5 is aside elevation of the completednal poultry conlining'package.` Y Y While the invention has been shown and described herein as being especially advantageously applicable for the purpose of packaging Vfresh dressed poultry such 'as turkeys with the aid of only one improved type of expanding andpguiding device, itis not `the intent' of the will cause simultaneous outward swinging of the outer plates 8.

The exteriors of the side plates 9 are provided with integral lugs 14 which are swingably connected by levers 15 with fixed fulcrum lugs 16.on the frame 6, as shown in Fig. 2. The medial portions of the levers 15 are connted By means of toggle links' 17 'and a .pivot 'pin 118 with a tting 19 secured to the upper end of a reciprocable upright rod 20 whichV is guided for vertical movement in a bearing Z1 carried by the frame 6. The p0rtion of the rod 2'0 between `the fitting 19 and the bearing 21 is provided with a series of notches or teeth 22 with which a gravity actuated pawl 23 pivotally suspended from the frame 6 is cooper-able, and -a loading platform 24 for the poultry may also be supported from the frame 6 near the inlet opening 10 of the unit.

The tubular wrapper 25 employed in conjunction with the improved packaging method, mustibeV formed of ratherftenaceous and highly elastic sheet material relatively impervious to air and to moisture penetration, such ascertain commercially available modified polyethylene lms Voriented as by stretching in a 'marmer known in the trade, and capable of being forcibly stretched or Vexpanded to a considerable extent, 'but adapted to return to approximately original condition upon release of the4 expanding force, without need yfor subjecting the wrapper Vto temperature changes or other treatment other than releasing the expanding force. An example of a commercially available iilm found to possess sucientinherent elasticity for use in the present method is'a polyethylene modified by mechanicalmeansV and obtainable `under 'the name of ViSqueen'fS and used in the manu-facture of bags known as Poly Skin.

bags described in an articler'appearing on page -15 o f'the September'4, Y1954, is's'ue 'of Poultry and Eggs Weekly. These wrappers 25 are preferably Yformed as bags having closed bottoms 26 and open mouth portions 27 with a commodity confining portion of between 82 percent opaque Vsheet stock in any well known manner.

and 92 percent smaller normal Vcircurriference`than the greatest external'circurnference of the body tothe-packed, and these bags may be 'formed` of either transparent or rllhe i exteriors of the wrapper bags 25 may also be provided inventors to unnecessarily restrictjthe improvement to `tapered passage or conduit provided with'an 4enlarged inlet end openingell) of relatively fixed diameter and with an opposite delivery end opening 11 of variable diameter. The toprarnd bottom platesS may be supported from the ring Vmember7 to swingi about Vfulcrums 0 1'l 'pivots 112,

`while the opposite Yside plates 9 are likewise` supported from the member 7 to swing Vabout otherV fulcrums or pivots 13. AThe opposed edges of theoterupper and lowereguide plates 8 overlap Ythev adjacent top andfbo'ttom edges of the inner side plates 9 so that outward swinging movement of the inner-plates 49 'about V"their'pivots 1 3 with identifying indicia and ornamental printing in order to enhancethe aesthetic appearance of the nal packages, the essential requirement beingV that they be produced from lhighly elastic film having good stability and adapted to `retain its elastic properties for extensive Vpe,-

riods of tirneiand under diverse conditions and capable of being increased by approximately twenty-live percent when stretched at normal Vtemperatures and'of returniugpto their original condition when the stretching or expanding forceiisreleased. Y Y

When the stuier has been constructed Vand assembled as hereinabove described, it may be utilized vto exploi-tY the improved method, in the following fmanner. With the upright yrod 20 of the 4unit positioned `as in Figs. l and 2, the discharge Vopening 11 will Ybe contracted suflciently so that the mouth portion 27 of a bag-like wrapperY 25 of smaller normal circumference than the greatest'ex'ternal circumference of the product to be packaged therein maybe freely applied to the delivery ends of the vplates'S, 9 and a considerable p0rtiou of the vside wall of the 'bag may bev collectedeor gathered fas' illustrated lin Fig. Y1. Afresh dressed turkey 28 or Lsimilar fowl of suitable size and properly prepared but not previously squatted may then be removed fromthelplatform 24 and inserted into the `guide plate yassembly through the inlet opening v10. The turkey 28 should Ithereafter bel @forcibly urged along the plates YA8, 9 by pressure'applied to its tail portion, toward Vthe out-let opening 11,;thereby causing ythe guide plates to swing about their pivots 12,13 and 'simultaneously 'causing 'the free 'ends' of thesefplatesv to e' spread andto forcibly stretch the mouth portion 27 of the wrapper 2S by mechanical internal pressure as illustrated in Fig. 2, the plates 8, 9 thus providing air escape spaces or passages therebetween extending along the fowl to the bag mouth.

During this forcible advancement of the turkey 28 and outward spreading of the guide plates 8, 9 to enlarge the discharge opening 11 and to stretch the mouth portion 11 of the elastic Wrapper 25 to an extent suicient to receive the commodity while providing air escape spaces between the commodity and the bag wall, the upper ends of the levers 15 will be swung outwardly and the toggle formed by the pivotally interconnected links 17 will be straightened thereby causing the pivot pin 18 and the fitting 19 to quickly -lower the toothed rod 20. The gravity actuated pawl 23 will ride over more of less of the teeth 22 formed on the rod depending upon the girth of the turkey 28 being forced through the stuffer, and this pawl 23 will eventually hold the rod 20 in lowered position and will thus hold the guide plates 8, 9 in the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4 thus maintaining the bag mouth portion 27 stretched or expanded so that any release of the pressure being exerted against the turkey carcass from the rear will still retain the bird snugly confined between the free ends of the guide plates.

The turkey 28 should subsequently be advanced into the stretched wrapper 25 and beyond the free ends of the distended guide plates as illustrated in Fig. 4, until all of the folded mouth portion 27 of the bag has been withdrawn from the stuffer plates 8, 9 whereupon the elastic side walls of the Wrapper 25 will promptly contract into snug engagement with the major portion of the pliant carcass and will cause the wings and Shanks to bev substantially embedded in the body of the bird while the neck and front portions of the commodity will, in effect, be squatted and will be forced into smoothly rounded shape under the pressure exerted from the rear of the body against the closed bag bottom as the stretching pressure applied to the bag resists removal thereof from the plates 8, 9 as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. It is to be noted that while the relatively soft and pliable fresh turkey is being forcibly injected into the elastic wrapper 25, this wrapper will be stretched and will create llateral pressure on the body which cooperates w-ith the advancing pressure being applied through the stuffer, so as to effectively squat the bird without necessity of providing special squatting apparatus such as the clamps heretofore utilized. When the mouth portion 27 of the bag-like wrapper 25 has been completely removed from the stuter, it may be gathered and contracted and sealed with a band or cord 29 as depicted in Fig. 5, to complete the package, either with or without subjecting the bag interior to vacuum.

After each -fowl land its wrapper 25 have been removed from the stuier, the pawl 23 may be released from the teeth 22, and the rod 20 may be pushed upwardly to cause the guide plates 8, 9 to assume their contracted position as shown in Figs. l and 2, whereupon the apparatus will be in condition for subsequent packaging operations. The improved equipment functions `automatically to carry on the successive steps of the improved method and will readily accommodate carcasses of various sizes since the extent of outward swinging of the plates 8, 9 is automatically regulated by the size of the carcass. However, the size of the wrapper selected is dependent upon the size of the body to be packaged, and when packaging birds of larger dimensions, larger bag wrappers 25 should be utilized than when packaging smaller fowl and vice versa, so that final packages having the bodies snugly embraced by the elastic wrappers and which are devoid of external air pockets, will definitely result.

The bag-like container selected for use in the improved method may be fabricated in accordance with customary 6 bag or pouch making methods, but as Vhereinabove set forth, it is important that the material used in the fabrication thereof possess certain characteristics. For example, the material must be liexible and relatively impervious with good stretch and recovery properties; and to achieve the desired results, the commodity confining portion of the tubular container should be of smaller normal circumference than the greatest external circumference of the body to be packaged. Polyethylene film possesses the desired characteristics of flexibility and comparatively low permeability as evidenced by the comparative chart found on pages 118 and 119 of the 1956 edition of Modern Packaging Encyclopedia showing the permeability of polyethylene to water vapor to be 1.2 grams per 24 hours per 100 square inches at 100 F. and percent RH. while that of cellulose acetate under the same conditions is listed as l0() grams and` that of vinyl lilms is 4 to 13 grams and that of Mylar is 1.8 grams. Again, in Food Technology magazine for November 1954, on pages 494 and 495, a table is found which shows the relative permeability of several additional packaging materials with polyethylene indicated as having a lower permeability than vinyl nitrile lm, cellophane and wax coated white kraft paper; and in Table 1 of an article entitled Isost-atic Method for Determining the Gas Permeability of Sheet Materials in the August 29, 1946, issue of Paper Trade Journal, the oxygen permeability of rubber versus polyethylene is shown as being in a ratio of 18 for rubber -as against 1 for polyethylene. The foregoing comparisons are, of course, at room ternperatures, but it is additionally noted that polyethylene has a far lower permeability as the temperature decreases. Polyethylene film therefore meets requirements with respect to permeability. However, with respect to stretch and recovery properties, ordinary polyethylene as well as other plastic ilms such as cellophane and Pliolm are found lacking, and most films possess insuiiicient elasticity while others do not return sufliciently to normal but have a high percentage of permanent elongation after stretching. Therefore, a modified polyethylene which has been oriented as by stretching should be selected, and such modiiied polyethylene has been shown to have excellent stretch and recovery properties in tests wherein a lm of 2 mil thickness modified polyethylene was stretched 27% in both directions and returned to normal with no permanent elongation land was again stretched in both directions 57% and returned to within 0.25 inch of normal with a permanent elongation of only 3.5%, while a iilm of ordinary polyethylene of like thickness was similarly stretched 27% and returned to normal in a machine direction but had no recovery in a crossmachine direction and when stretched 57% the lm only returned to within 2.0 inches of normal, a permanent elongation of 28%, in a machine direction and tore in a cross-machine direction. Mechanically modified polyethylene accordingly satisfies all of the requirements as to permeability, flexibility, elasticity, and recovery properties. In addition, it is a proven fact that modified polyethylene has excellent aging characteristics and stability un'der varying conditions of use, as compared, for instance, to rubber and Plioiilm as well-as other films. Finally, the commodity confining portion of the container should be of smaller normal circumference than the greatest external circumference of the body -to be packaged therein and should be stretched to a somewhat larger circumference than the greatest external circumference of the body to thereby receive the same while permitting'escape of air from within the container. To provide suicient tightness land a snug fitting and substantially wrinkle-free wrapper in the final package without danger of wrapper or product deformation or damage, we have found that the circumference of the container formed of 2 mil thickness film should preferably average about 87% of the maximum circumference of the body, but this size may be Varied by a plus or minus 'Without serious undesirable effects. indicated that a modified polyethylene lm available to thettradeY under the name of Visqueen S lis especially Suitable for use in the improved method, other modified polyethylene lms, and possibly certain vinyl lms, meeting the requirements herein set forth may be `used to advantage.

From the foregoing detailed description, it should be apparent that Vthe present improvement in fact provides a simple but 'highly effective method of producing very attractive 'and neat poultry packages or the like in which the initially irregular pliant bodies are pressed into squattedshape with relatively smooth external surfaces, without the aid of a special squatter and wrapper pretreating equipment. The successive steps of the packaging lmethod may be effectively performed manually and in rapid succession with the aid of a simple and readily manipulable stuffer to which the successive elastic casings or Wrappers 2S can be conveniently applied for initial stretching, and which positively holds the wrapper bags in laterallyV stretched condition While they are also being stretched longitudinally by the advancing commodity. The improved method has proven highly satisfactory and successful in actual use, and may obviously be utilized for the packaging of -any pliant and irregular commodity batches having characteristics simulating those of fresh dressed fowl. p

It Vshould be understood that it is not desired to limit this invention to the exact steps of the method or to the precise details of construction of the apparatus herein shown and described, for Vvarious modifications within the scope of the appendedclaims m-ay occur to persons skilled in the packaging art.

We claim:

1. The method of protectively packaging irregular individual pliant bodies of foodstuffs for merchandising purposes, which comprises, initially selecting a bag formed of inherently elastic and impervious flexible modi'red polyethylene film and having Va tubular wall of smaller normal circumference than the greatest external circumference of the body to be packaged therein, circumferentially stretching the tubular bag Wall to approximately such greatest body circumference by application of internal mechanical pressure and holding the Wall in such stretched condition, inserting the body to Abe packaged into the stretched bag through its mouth while maintaining an air escape space extending longitudinally 'of the .bag from its closed end to the mouth thereof, continuing the advancement of the body into and forcibly Vagainst the closed bottom end of the bag While positively maintaining the circumferential bag-stretching pressure tothereby longitudinally compress and squat the 'body and to'also evacuate air from -the bag, there- Y after releasingthe stretching pressure to cause Ithe inherent elasticityV of the bag-forming material alone to contract the bag into snug compressive engagement with the body, and finally sealing the bag mouth to confine the squatted body Withinthe bag.

2. The method of protectively packaging irregular individualpliant bodies of foodstuffs for merchandising purposes, `which comprises, initially selecting a bag While we have ined polyethylene film and having a tubularjwall of smaller normal circumference than the greatest external circumference -of the body to be packaged therein, circumferentially stretching the tubularV ,bag` Wallto Yapproximately such greatest body circumference by lapplication of`in'ternal mechanical pressure` and holding the lWall in; such stretched condition, inserting Vthe body to bepackaged into the stretched bag through its mouth While maintaining an air escape space extending longitudinally of the bag from its closed end to the mouth thereof, continuing the advancement of the body into and forcibly against the closed bottom end of thebag vvhile positively maintaining the circumferential bag-stretching pressure to'thereby longitudinally compress and squat the body and to also Vevacuate air from the bag, then continuing the advancement of the body still further to release the bag from the mechanical stretching force and cause the inherent elasticity Vof the bag-forming material alone to contract the bag intosnug compressive engagement with the body, Yand Vfinally sealing Ythe bag mouth `to confine the squatted body Within fthe bag.

' 3. The method ofV protectively packaging irregular individual pliant bodies of foodstus for merchandising purposes, which comprises, initially selecting a `bag formed of inherently elastic and impervious flexible modifiedy -polyethylenelilmwand having a tubular `wall of between 82 percent and 92 percent smaller normal circumference than the greatest external circumference of the body to be packaged therein, circumferentially stretching the tubular bag wall beyond the greatest externalcircumference ofthe body by application of'internail; mechanical pressure and holding the -Wall in such stretched condition, inserting the body to be packaged into the stretched bag through its Vmouth While maintaining an air escape space extending longitudinally of the bag from its closed end to the mouth thereof, continuing the advancement of the body into and forcibly against the closed bottom end ofthe bag While positively maintaining the circumferential bag-stretching 4pressure to thereby longitudinally compress and squat the body and to also evacuate `airV from ythe bag, thereafter -releasing the stretching Vpressure only after the tbody has been longitudinally compressed to cause the 4inherent elasticity of the bag-forming Vmaterial alone to contract the bag into snug compressive engagement with the body, and iinallytsealing the bag mouth to confine the squatted body Within the bag.

,References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Johnson Apr. 28, 1959 

1. THE METHOD OF PROTECTIVELY PACKAGINE IRREGULAR INDIVIDUAL PLIANT BODIES OF FOODSTUFFS FOR MERCHANDISING PURPOSES, WHICH COMPRISES, INITIALLY SELECTING A BAG FORMED OF INHERENTLY ELESTIC AND IMPERVIOUS FLEXIBLE MODIFIED POLYETHYLENE FILM AND HAVING A TUBULAR WALL OF SMALLER NORMAL CIRCUMFERENCE THAN THE GREATEST EXTERNAL CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE BODY TO BE PACKAGEED THEREIN, CIRCUMFERENTIALLY STRETCHING THE TUBULAR BAG WALL TO APPROXIMATELY SUCH GREATEST BODY CIRCUMFERENCE BY APPLICATION OF INTERNAL MECHANICAL PRESSURE AND HOLDING THE WALL IN SUCH STRETCHED CONDITION, INSERTING THE BODY TO BE PACKAGED INTO THE STRETCHED BAG THROUGH ITS MOUTH WHILE MAINTAINING AN AIR ESCAPE SPACE EXTEDING LONGITUDINALLY OF THE BAG FROM ITS CLOSED END TO THE MOUTH THEREOF, CONTINUING THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE BODY INTO AND FORCIBLY AGAINST THE CLOSED BOTTOM END OF THE BAG WHILE POSTIVELY MAINTAINING THE CIRCUMFERENTIAL BAG-STRETCHING PRESSURE TO THEREBY LONGITUDINALLY COMPRESS ANS SQUAT THE BODY AND TO ALSO EVACUATE AIR FROM THE BAG, THEREAFTER RELEASING THE STGRETCHING PRESSURE TO CAUSE THE INHERENT ELASTICITY OF THE BAG-FORMING MATERIAL ALONE TO CONTRACT THE BAG INTO SNUG COMPRESSIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH THE BODY, AND FINALLY SEALING THE BAG MOUTH TO CONFINE THE SQUATTED BODY WITHIN THE BAG. 